The Sphinx's Lair

Mithrandir

15:00

I created the long one with the computer, yes.

IAmInPLS

It's a good time for posting a puzzle, isn't it?

Mithrandir

Although with BLOOD, you're sort of related.

Matt

@IAmInPLS it's always a good time

Mithrandir

@Randal'Thor: @MOehm got one.

Chris Cudmore

@Randal'Thor U2's seminal live album, "Under a Blood Red Sky"

IAmInPLS

15:05

@Matt Couldn't agree more

Chris Cudmore

@Randal'Thor Are all 3 "it"s the same?

Matt

I kinda want to make another metacryptic :P

IAmInPLS

0

Q: My wife is lost, my GPS is lost. Where are we?

"Darling, can you please turn on the GPS?" I asked my wife. "Hang on, I know exactly where we are", she replied. "Can you, for once, listen to me?" She ignored my remark, immersed in the reading of the map. This was not the first time we were going on a trip, and this was definitely not the fi...

Matt

but maybe I should actually do work today ...

IAmInPLS

Didn't double check, so don't hesitate to edit if you find mistakes

Mithrandir

15:07

Work? BLASPHEMY!

@Randal'Thor extra challenge: Figure out the method for why those letters were chosen. And I expect a feedback section after all of this over.

Sphinx

0

Q: My wife is lost, my GPS is lost. Where are we?

"Darling, can you please turn on the GPS?" I asked my wife. "Hang on, I know exactly where we are", she replied. "Can you, for once, listen to me?" She ignored my remark, immersed in the reading of the map. This was not the first time we were going on a trip, and this was definitely not the fi...

enigmatic-puzzle story

Rand al'Thor

@ChrisCudmore Pretty much. Think of it as "I [verb-X], you are [noun-X], so you should [verb-X']", where X is the answer and X' is a homophone of the answer.

Matt

well, either we're supposed to look for a city that has roads mapped out like in the puzzle, or there's some steganography going on here

Rubio

@Randal'Thor That final cryptic has haunted my dreams for days now.

Rand al'Thor

@Rubio I wonder if you'll be satisfied by the answer ...

Rubio

15:12

I've tried working backwards, apparently the same way you created it, and found nothing helpful

so apparently our minds operate in different ways entirely :)

Will

F final answer looks like it's SKIN

Mithrandir

Correct

Rand al'Thor

How does that fit with SOAKED?

Oh, soaked to the skin, of course.

Rubio

@Randal'Thor is it as you just described, btw? I've been assuming all along that it's constrained to be something that is a homophone of a word meaning "you should do it". Is it just a random verb?

Mithrandir

GTG again

Rubio

15:15

well, not random, but you know what I mean

Rand al'Thor

@Rubio Yes, just a verb. It can go together with "should", as can most verbs, but there's nothing "should"y in its own meaning.

Rubio

bah.

then my answer is "clue" / "clew".

should I bother writing it up, or is that not it?

Rand al'Thor

"I clue, you are a clue, so you should clew"?

Chris Cudmore

Is it a proper cryptic? I.E. Definition and wordplay?

Rand al'Thor

"Sphinx trots after clue"?

Rubio

15:17

Yes. all that.

Rand al'Thor

@ChrisCudmore You know what "?" means in a cryptic clue?

Chris Cudmore

Or a double definition?

Rubio

@ChrisCudmore These have a "twist" so

the question mark and/or the twist I think cover a multitude of oddity

Chris Cudmore

@IAmInPLS Sounds like someone programmed your GPS with the Konami Code.

Rand al'Thor

I'm surprised nobody has solved this one yet either.

IAmInPLS

15:25

@ChrisCudmore Haha. I almost included a phrase referring to the Konami code

Liked your comment by the way

@Randal'Thor I think that once somebody discovered the red herring, it's hard to discover anyhting else

I don't know if you see what I mean

Sphinx

0

Q: Steganographic Maze of Cipher's, Riddles and Rhyme!

Go with the flow!!! INSTRUCTiONS Done with my time on this planet, I left you with my creation. I'm hidden in two ways below, one puzzled, while the other is a direct mention. I know you will shortly reveal my identity, and rest all will be fine. If you ask me for a hint, I say, unscra...

riddle cipher rhyme steganography reverse-puzzling

Rand al'Thor

@IAmInPLS I was quite evil with the red herrings in that one :->

(That's a really bad answer to your GPS question.)

Sid

@Randal'Thor Is SPHINX TROTS AFTER TIME?

IAmInPLS

@Randal'Thor Yep :-/

Rand al'Thor

@Sid Nope.

Chris Cudmore

15:30

@IAmInPLS are you and your wife video game characters?

IAmInPLS

No, why?

Matt

they are stuck in temple run, perhaps

Sconibulus

I don't think you can turn around though

Chris Cudmore

I was thinking Pacman

Techidiot

@IAmInPLS Is it some kind of trivial place? :-/

IAmInPLS

15:36

I won't say anything mouhahaha

Not for now

Techidiot

Sounds like one of the F1 Tracks :p

Rubio

@Techidiot All your other rhymes to date have been AABB[CCDDEE...] - this latest puzzle's jumbled up section has several lines with no rhyme, did you change it up or is one of us just really bad at rhyming? hehe

Techidiot

@Rubio Whoa! I never knew I had a pattern :D

But there is a rhyme! You just need to arrange the bits in a right way

Rubio

I'm trying, but

Rand al'Thor

> If you ask me for a hint, I say, unscramble the rhyme.

@Rubio ^

Rubio

15:41

no words in there rhyme with "mine" or "though" -

Rand al'Thor

@Techidiot What's a trivial place?

Rubio

are we supposed to unscramble just the lines, or more than that?

Techidiot

@Randal'Thor May be one of the maze kind of roads..

@Rubio - Basically, you need to form a Rhyme using those lines.

Rubio

in fact fully half the lines have no apparent rhyme to them, which is why I'm asking if you changed up your usual pattern of pairs of rhymed lines

Techidiot

Not sure if I can put a little hint here.. Let me give you some time to figure it out

half the lines have no apparent rhyme to them sounds interesting!

Rubio

15:44

Mmmhmm.

Just pointing out that changing up your own usual pattern (and, for that matter, not following the same rhyming you're using not only in every other puzzle, but in the non-scrambled bits of THIS one) doesn't feel like playing fair. :)

I'll dig at it.

Techidiot

Hahaha

IAmInPLS

Alright, can we ban Amruth A?

He put a bounty on his -16 'riddle'

Mithrandir

@Randal'Thor Di you notice that someone got the final answer to F?

Sid

@Techidiot So, just scramble the lines or the words?

Rand al'Thor

@IAmInPLS Why?

@IAmInPLS So?

Techidiot

15:50

@Sid Arrange only the lines.

Rand al'Thor

@Mithrandir SKIN?

TheGreatEscaper

Any folks interested in testing a set of logic puzzles for me? Unfortunately if you did test these you wouldn't be able to answer when I do eventually post these, for obvious reasons.

Chris Cudmore

Notice that half the lines, which would fit the rhyme scheme aabbcc have Terminal punctuation. The other six have colons.

IAmInPLS

I'm purposely overreacting, but I find this behavior... weird and counterproductive

Chris Cudmore

Playing with it, I get something like:

Often I watched the waterfall's; They used to intrigue me.
Every kid now fears one of mine; I believed it was nothing but Gee!
Not sure about others though:Yes, I was quite better with numbers.
Not aware about about humans; I only knew universally related members.
While the world was dealing with wars; I had colors to prove.
There were not many ways; But I gave you three ways to move.

dcfyj

15:52

@TheGreatEscaper What kind of logic puzzle?

Mithrandir

@Randal'Thor yep

@TheGreatEscaper possibly. Not sure.

Chris Cudmore

Which is the least nonsensical arrangement I can figure.

Of course, line arrangement can vary

Rubio

yeah that's pretty close to what I have

Rand al'Thor

@IAmInPLS If someone wants to put a bounty on a heavily downvoted puzzle, it's their good right to do so (as long as they're not doing something like transferring rep to a sock). Let's not start a witch hunt here.

Rubio

I still think changing the rules on us isn't fair play. *cough*

But ok :)

Mithrandir

15:54

Instead of witch-hunts, let's get ice cream. </ref>

Techidiot

@Rubio New Year. New Rules. New Scheme! :p

Khale_Kitha

I ran into an ice cream place, yesterday, near where I just moved to- the tag line: "Ice Cream makes you pretty"

Rand al'Thor

@Mithrandir Ref to what?

Techidiot

And, btw, you are on right track @ChrisCudmore Do check other tags as well. :) And also check the instructions

Mithrandir

harry-potter

Fortescue.

Another victim of Tom riddle

Rand al'Thor

15:56

@Mithrandir That was the first thing that came to my mind, but it didn't sound like a HP quote.

Mithrandir

Not a quote. A reference.

TheGreatEscaper

It's a puzzle with original mechanics by me, in the vein of Japanese paper pen puzzles.

Mithrandir

@Randal'Thor somehow, we end up discussing Puzzles in Mos and Harry Potter in TSL...

TheGreatEscaper

Its for the grid logic fortnightly, but due to the nature of this puzzle it needs fairly rigorous playtesting.

(Oops, should probably add @dcfyj just in case they've headed off somewhere)

Rand al'Thor

@Mithrandir We're weird.

</starbait>

Mithrandir

15:59

I... will... not... star...

drags hand back, reminded of Pettigrew

dcfyj

@TheGreatEscaper So pictogram type logic grids?

Mithrandir

Nu. Group F wasn't even nearly as hard as Clue Two :(

Rand al'Thor

@IAmInPLS On second thoughts ... trying to get the most downvoted question on the site is a bit ... trollish?

Mithrandir

5

Q: A long but relatively easy cipher - Clue Two

<-- Previous clue After submitting your answer in the email, you wait eagerly, on the edge of your seat. After about five minutes, your response comes back. It says: Wonderful. You have completed your first task. You have earned the right to continue. Please go to [redacted] to continue. ...

cipher story

TheGreatEscaper

@dcfyj kiiiiiind of.

Entirely new mechanics, at least none that I've seen around before.

Rubio

16:02

btw @Techidiot is "about about" intentional?

dcfyj

I would take a look at it, but I'm kind of busy with work. If it's brand new mechanics then I probably won't have the time needed to devote to it.

Techidiot

@Rubio Corrected. Typo

Rubio

figured.

Techidiot

Thanks

Rubio

Also, and this isn't just pedantry, it matters a little: is "waterfall's" intentionally possessive, or merely plural with an extraneous apostrophe?

IAmInPLS

16:04

@Randal'Thor Yes, a bit :-). The thing that bothers me is that he's 'taking pride' in having the most downvoted question here

Khale_Kitha

@Mithrandir You should have responded with [redacted]

lol

Mithrandir

:P

Rubio

@Khale_Kitha lol. totally

Rand al'Thor

@IAmInPLS Yep. I flagged a couple of those comments.

Techidiot

@Rubio waterfall's/waterfalls. Same. No problems there I guess

IAmInPLS

16:06

@Randal'Thor What is your comment for?

Techidiot

There are intentionally plural

TheGreatEscaper

@dcfyj all cool :) thanks for expressing interest.

Sid

@Mithrandir Cross me off your volunteers list. I would be too busy to make a puzzle for the next few months..

Rand al'Thor

@IAmInPLS Because, Amruth's attitude problem aside, I seriously don't think it's a bad riddle.

Mithrandir

:/

IAmInPLS

16:07

@Randal'Thor Oh, OK. At first, I wanted to say that this was basically an ad, but I ended up saying it was just bad.

Mithrandir

...So I said it was basically an ad :P

Rand al'Thor

A sad bad mad ad?

Mithrandir

Exactly.

IAmInPLS

-19 now, at least he's succeeding in what he wanted

Khale_Kitha

At least the answer to the riddle isn't "A plastic bag."

Mithrandir

16:10

Plastic bags cost money now.

.10 a bag.

Rubio

@Techidiot Those are not the same thing. :) It's supposed to be plural then, so no apostrophe should be there?

IAmInPLS

Unless you bring your own

Khale_Kitha

They tried that here, Mith.

Lasted about 3 months before the law was stricken.

Rand al'Thor

@Mithrandir There's nothing wrong with creating this kind of 'meta' puzzle whose solution is something PSE-specific. I've written puzzles with solutions "the Green Llama" and "Deusovi" which were well-received.

dcfyj

@IAmInPLS So... Why is he trying to get an insanely negative question score?

Techidiot

16:11

@Rubio Done again! Thanks.

Rubio

Perhaps he's just an insanely negative person. :)

Mithrandir

So? This wasn't a super-great riddle. It was specifically to bring attention to another puzzle to get a badge.

Techidiot

But grammar is least bothered in this puzzle

Rand al'Thor

Not to mention this one:

30

Q: A moderate visual number puzzle

In the following diagram, each red dot represents a positive number. The dot-numbers on each of the five circles spell out either a word (each dot corresponding to a letter) or a number (each dot corresponding to a single digit), always starting at the topmost dot and moving around the circle clo...

visual arithmetic

Rubio

@Mithrandir yeah I pointed that out in my answer, intentionally.

IAmInPLS

16:12

@dcfyj Well, I don't know!

Rand al'Thor

@Mithrandir Hmm, I didn't realise the other puzzle was also Amruth's.

Not sure how much of a difference that should make though.

After all, we're supposed to vote for the post, not for the person.

Rubio

It just makes the ad more egregiously self-serving is all

Mithrandir

@Randal'Thor When you get the other one 'stone' will make lots of sense...

Rubio

huh. I was right with ROOF for E5?

Mithrandir

yep

Rubio

16:19

I thought it was too much of a stretch. That's funny :)

Also @Randal'Thor I dunno if Sid got "STEAM" also but it's in my partial answer and I hadn't seen anyone solve it prior. I think that one came from me.

Sid

Oh, I hadn't seen your answer...

Also, can anyone explain how that was LOCK?

Rubio

Glock - G[ee]

IAmInPLS

Glock without gee?

Chris Cudmore

Glock (pistol) - Gee!

Rubio

not really proper

Mithrandir

16:22

3

A: The Word Web of horror - Clue Twenty Two

B3

Sid

How is exclamation gee?

Rand al'Thor

@Rubio I got it from Sid's comment on my answer, before seeing your answer.

Sid

Even if it is, where is the homophone indicator?

Chris Cudmore

Try this one then: Charlie Brown decapitated twice for boat lift (4)

Khale_Kitha

Glad you're here, Chris - I was wanting to work on some of the CC's, but needed some help as to if I'm doing them right - care to take a look at an example, to see if I'm understanding this?

Chris Cudmore

16:25

sure

Khale_Kitha

relay sound from alarm-trigger, diamond peak, and greeting (5)

Rubio

Ah. Yeah looks like my answer predated Sid's by a few hours - i was afraid I'd missed it and had swiped it subconsciously hehe

Rand al'Thor

@Will Is the CCCC answer ACCORDION?

Chris Cudmore

@Khale_Kitha My first stab would be to take RELAY as the definition.

Khale_Kitha

Okay

I feel like I was forced to make that part obvious, but I could work on that, next time

Chris Cudmore

16:27

Sound from alarm + Trigger + Diamond Peak + Greeting. Looks like a charade.

Bell, Ring , Peal. Or it could be the sound that an alarmed person makes.

Khale_Kitha

alarm-trigger is together for a reason - I couldn't find a better choice there, yet.

Is that too obtuse?

Chris Cudmore

Ok, I typically ignore punctuation on the first few read throughs. But I could read that as ALARM - TRIGGER .... ALARM - ARM = AL

Sid

Any mathy guy here? I am struggling with a calculus problem and am too lazy to create an account on mathematics and post it there...

Khale_Kitha

oh, good point

Chris Cudmore

Which is a good a place to start as any.

Mithrandir

16:30

@Randal'Thor I have a feeling you want some clues for vscgc.

Khale_Kitha

Since we're doing this for practice - that's a rabbit hole

Chris Cudmore

Hang on... I need to past this into notepad. It's moving off the screen.

Khale_Kitha

Star it, for a moment, then unstar when done, hehe

Rubio

you only get a limited window to unstar

Khale_Kitha

True.

Gareth McCaughan

16:32

@Sid I am a mathy guy.

Rand al'Thor

@Sid Yep!

Rubio

but I can force unstar it if you ask

Rand al'Thor

@GarethMcCaughan *mathsy :-)

Gareth McCaughan

@Randal'Thor I'm bilingual :-)

Chris Cudmore

I could also take RELAY SOUND as def, with RELAY as either a noun or a verb. And I haven't even looked into homonyms yet, which you always have to have in the back of your mind.

Rubio

16:32

Now now boys. I thought we agreed to use "mathematics" so we wouldn't have this squabble here. ;)

Khale_Kitha

So multiple words are allowed as def - good to know

Sid

Yeah thanks... my question is on integration. f(x)= x^2x (1+ln x)dx Integrate that.

Chris Cudmore

Yes, even entire clauses.

Rubio

yah they just have to be consecutive

Khale_Kitha

Ah

Rand al'Thor

16:33

@Mithrandir Well, I've tried Caesar ciphers and QWERTY-related things ... Vigenere isn't much good without a key ... I'm getting a little stuck.

@Sid Wait, is that second x actually a times?

I.e. is it (x^2)(1+log x) or (x^3)(1+log x)?

Sid

Exactly..

That's where I am struggling

Gareth McCaughan

@Sid or is it x^{2x}?

Rubio

I read the latter too

Sid

@GarethMcCaughan Yep,

Rand al'Thor

What happens if you substitute y=log x?

Gareth McCaughan

16:35

so it's $\int x^{2x} (1+\log x) \d x$ ?

Rubio

don't you just wish mathjax worked here sometimes

Rand al'Thor

x^{2x} = exp(2x log x)

Chris Cudmore

Now I can think of 3 different meanings for Relay. 1- A race 2- The passing of something 3- The medium over which something is passed. Gotta keep all three in mind.

Khale_Kitha

Except when humn is in the room :P

Rubio

oh. my. I dunno, I think that might have some amazing results :)

Khale_Kitha

16:36

@ChrisCudmore There's more

But they relate to those you've listed.

Chris Cudmore

An electrical component.

Rubio

there's electronic relays too obviously

er. or electric, i guess, y eah

Chris Cudmore

But they're called "RELAYS" only synonym I can think of might be SWITCH

Khale_Kitha

I wonder if it would be effective for me to give the answer, so you could determine if the puzzle leads to it appropriately

Mithrandir

@Randal'Thor It is Vigenere.

Chris Cudmore

16:38

Fair enough

Khale_Kitha

The answer to it is Radio

Rubio

io is greeting?

Khale_Kitha

"yo"

Chris Cudmore

RELAY (V) == RADIO (V)

Rubio

no.

you have to clue homophones, you can't just throw them in

Gareth McCaughan

16:39

(confession: I asked a computer what the answer to @Sid's integral is before making this suggestion) It seems likely that the integral is also going to have something looking like x^{2x} in it. So it might be worth figuring out what the derivative of x^{2x} is.

Khale_Kitha

They are clued

Chris Cudmore

sound from alarm trigger is a LetterBank clue?

Gareth McCaughan

(by "the integral" here I mean the result of doing the integration, not the thing being integrated; of course we know the latter has x^{2x} in it already.)

Khale_Kitha

don't know what letterbank refers to

Rand al'Thor

@Mithrandir Well hmph. Guess I need to hunt for a key.

Sid

16:39

@Randal'Thor Thanks, I solved that now. I am an idiot at not thinking what you wrote there..

Chris Cudmore

Basically, in this case, R is the only letter in both Alarm and Trigger

Khale_Kitha

alarm-trigger refers to a raid

Rubio

ok, so what is "diamond peak"?

Khale_Kitha

'D'

Rubio

I took that to be the "d"

Chris Cudmore

16:41

peak == head

Khale_Kitha

So effectively "sound from (Raid + D + yo)"

Chris Cudmore

tenuous, but I won't call fowl on it.

Khale_Kitha

hmm

Rubio

I think i would ;)

Chris Cudmore

@Khale_Kitha But, RAIDDYO isn't a word.

Rubio

16:41

homophone indicators are for, well, homophones

two words that sound alike

Khale_Kitha

Right, that's why I was mentioning that I wasn't sure of the classification

It's not homophone, but closer to charade

In-between

Gareth McCaughan

I think it's fine to have a homophone where the thing you start with isn't a single word.

Rubio

homophone around a charade though?

Mithrandir

@Randal'Thor I gave you all of the clues that you need.

Khale_Kitha

That's the best description I have, in my head, yeah

Rand - thick

He gave the key

Rand al'Thor

16:43

@Khale_Kitha Who are you calling thick? :-P

Khale_Kitha

hehehe

Apparently both of us.

Chris Cudmore

I think you need to either homophone a single charade, with both start and finish syllables being words

or

Sid

@GarethMcCaughan @Randal'Thor There is another question. Integrate: [1+2tanx(tanx + Sec x)]1/2 dx

Chris Cudmore

build a word and then homophon it.

Mithrandir

Not thick

Khale_Kitha

16:44

I would contest that a spoonerism doesn't follow that rule

Rand al'Thor

@Khale_Kitha Khale Thika?

Rubio

I can see a homophone of (e.g.) "parse nip" giving parsnip, or whatever, but I don't think you can wrap any arbitrary assemblage of charade bits in a homophone indicator and call it a day

Khale_Kitha

lol

Mithrandir

hey @BeastlyGerbil

Chris Cudmore

Accumulate a ship's help in the sound. (9)

Khale_Kitha

16:45

It's a...uh....homospoonercharadeism

3

Chris Cudmore

Sorry, 6

A CREW --> Accrue

Rubio

see, that's fine

Rand al'Thor

@Sid tan x(tan x + sec x) equals (sec x)^2.

Wait, no.

Beastly Gerbil

helllo

Chris Cudmore

I think it's time for coffee.

Rubio

16:47

hey bg

Rand al'Thor

It's (sin^2(x) + sin(x)) / cos^2(x).

Rubio

@ChrisCudmore Bring me some too ;)

Rand al'Thor

@BeastlyGerbil Afternoon.

Beastly Gerbil

@Rubio you have once again proven the power of HNQ :P

Mithrandir

!!/coffee

Khale_Kitha

16:47

@ChrisCudmore @Rubio Okay, I'll keep that in mind

Mithrandir

(that works in Charcoal)

Rubio

@BeastlyGerbil I did?

Beastly Gerbil

@Rubio (your puzzle)

Mithrandir

@Randal'Thor Take a closer look. I gave you all of the clues.

Rubio

Hm. I've never seen it show up there.

Beastly Gerbil

16:49

I'm assuming it did with 2k views

Rubio

Guess I need to fully refresh more often :)

Yeah I just saw it - just now

Rand al'Thor

@Mithrandir Sorry, I haven't even had the chance to look at it yet.

Too much going on in chats.

Rubio

I got the 1k view badge this morning and even went looking to see if it'd HNQd, and didn't see it show up

Khale_Kitha

It's the maths, in the chats, with the peoples..... I sound like I'm playing clue.

Gareth McCaughan

@Sid that 1/2 at the end is kinda unusual. Is it actually an exponent?

Rubio

16:50

You got your math[s] in my cryptics. No, you got your cryptics in my math[s]. Aiieee!

Khale_Kitha

lol

Sid

@GarethMcCaughan yeah, exponent

Yeah, solved, thanks again @Randal'Thor

Techidiot

@Rubio If you have noticed, I have maintained AABB in the first four lines. . And hopefully in other places as well ;)

Beastly Gerbil

oooh new puzzle

Khale_Kitha

I wonder if there's a good way to hide the number 5, 6, or 7, in a CC..

Rubio

16:51

@Techidiot I did notice. (I commented on it! hehe)

That's why NOT doing it in the jumble feels unfair.

Khale_Kitha

1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, and 10 are easy

Rubio

I know I'm being picky though.

Rand al'Thor

@Mithrandir OK, just F6 left now.

Techidiot

Probably I did it there as well :-/

Mithrandir

@Randal'Thor Look closer for why.

Rot13 is outdated.

Khale_Kitha

16:55

@Mithrandir Iferitwillgetold+fst+though-

Just a curiousity found when examining closer.

Mithrandir

Huh?

Rand al'Thor

@Khale_Kitha ?

Khale_Kitha

I fer it will get old+ fst+ though-

I fear it will get old fast though

Chris Cudmore

Back to RADIO ... Does

Khale_Kitha

Haven't found the exact decryption, but there's that

Mithrandir

16:57

What'd you get that from?

Chris Cudmore

Send extreme signal (5) work for people?

Mithrandir

If you found something like that it's completely unintentional o_O

Khale_Kitha

+1 without rotation

Mithrandir

I meant closer like this...

Khale_Kitha

I know what happened, there. That was an oddity in something I had from earlier, hah

not sure how it got left

Windows 10 has a copy fail that hits me a lot

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